Handy button attaching apparatus

ABSTRACT

A button attaching apparatus adapted for attaching a button to a cloth, including a body having a handhold portion and a barrel, the barrel defining a longitudinal top-open chamber, a pair of needles fastened to the barrel at the front side and having a respective longitudinal guide groove, a push handle sliding in the longitudinal top-open chamber of the body on the outside, a pair of projector rods respectively connected to the push handle and moved by it to drive a wire nail along the longitudinal guide grooves of the needles into the cloth in securing the button to the cloth, and, a pair of springs adapted for imparting a backward pressure to the projector rods.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to button attaching apparatus, and relatesmore particularly to a handy button attaching apparatus convenient forindividual use to fasten a button to a cloth.

A variety of tools have been disclosed for attaching buttons toclothing. Exemplars are seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,350, entitled"Combined button stitching and sewing machine"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,515,entitled "Button stitching apparatus"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,162, entitled"Fastener attaching tool". The fastener attaching tool of U.S. Pat. No.5,518,162 comprises a body having a pair of projector rods, a pair ofneedles mounted on the body at the front side, an ejector mechanism, andan end cap adapted for driving the ejector mechanism. This fastenerattaching tool is designed for individual use. This fastener attachingtool is complicated in structure, and inconvenient to operate. When inuse, the body must be held in hand with fingers, and the end cap must beforced forwards with the palm or the thumb, so that the fastener can bedriven out of the tool.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is one object of the present invention to provide a handy buttonattaching apparatus which is simple in structure, and inexpensive tomanufacture. It is another object of the present invention to provide ahandy button attaching apparatus which is convenient for individual use.According to one aspect of the present invention, the button attachingapparatus comprises a body having a handhold portion and a barrel, thebarrel defining a longitudinal top-open chamber, a pair of needlesfastened to the barrel at the front side and having a respectivelongitudinal guide groove, a push handle sliding in the longitudinaltop-open chamber of the body on the outside, a pair of projector rodsrespectively connected to the push handle and moved by it to drive awire nail along the longitudinal guide grooves of the needles into thecloth in securing the button to the cloth, and, a pair of springsadapted for imparting a backward pressure to the projector rods.According to another aspect of the present invention, the wire nailcomprises a flexible wire body, and legs at two opposite ends of theflexible wire body. The barrel of the body has a wire nail mounting slotthrough which the wire nail can be loaded into position with the legsmounted in the longitudinal guide grooves of the needles. The wire nailcan be injection-molded from flexible plastic material. Alternatively,the wire body can be made from fiber, and the two legs can be moldedfrom plastic on the opposite ends of the fiber wire body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a handy button attaching apparatusaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the front part of the handy buttonattaching apparatus shown in FIG. 1, showing the loading of a wire nail;

FIG. 3 is an applied view in section of the present invention, showingthe wire nail loaded; and,

FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 3 but showing the needles inserted through thethrough holes of the button and the cloth, and the wire nail driven intoposition.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 1, a handy button attaching apparatus in accordancewith the present invention comprises a body 10, a pair of needles 20, apush handle 30, a pair of projector rods 40, and a pair of springs 50.The body 10 is comprised of left shell 11 and a right shell 12 fastenedtogether, having a flat, circular handhold portion 13, and a barrel 14.The barrel 14 defines a longitudinal, top open chamber 15. The needles20 are fastened to the barrel 14, having a respective longitudinal guidegroove 21. The springs 50 are respectively mounted inside thelongitudinal chamber 15 around the projector rods 40. The projector rods40 are respectively moved along the longitudinal guide grooves 21 of theneedles 20, having a respective hooked tail end 41 respectively fastenedto the push handle 30. The push handle 30 has a sliding block 31 at thebottom adapted for sliding in the longitudinal top-open chamber 15 ofthe body 10 at the top.

Referring to FIG. 2, the barrel 14 of the body 10 has a wire nailfeeding slot 16 disposed at the top near the front side, and adapted forreceiving a wire nail 60. The wire nail 60 comprises a wire body 61, andlegs 62 at two opposite ends of the wire body 61. The wire body 61 isflexible, and can be bent into a substantially U-shaped configuration.The legs 62 of the wire nail 60 can be respectively mounted in thelongitudinal guide grooves 21 of the needles 20. The wire nail feedingslot 16 preferably has a sloping guide surface adapted for guiding thelegs 62 of the wire nail 60 into the longitudinal guide grooves 21 ofthe needles 20.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, when the wire nail 60 is inserted into thewire nail feeding slot 16 with its legs 62 respectively forced into thelongitudinal guide grooves 21 of the needles 20, the needles 20 arerespectively inserted into the two through holes 71 of the button 70 andthen through the cloth 80, then the push handle 30 is driven to push theprojector rods 40 forwards, causing the legs 62 of the wire nail 60 tobe forced through the cloth 80 to secure the button 70 to the cloth 80.

Because the user can hold the body with the palm and the other fourfingers when the thumb is pressed on the push handle for driving theprojector rods, the operation of the button attaching apparatus isconvenient to operate. Furthermore, because no ejector mechanism isneeded, the structure is simple.

While only one embodiment of the present invention has been shown anddescribed, it will be understood that various modifications and changescould be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention disclosed.

What the invention claimed is:
 1. A button attaching apparatus adaptedfor attaching a button to a cloth, comprising:a body having a handholdportion, the handhold portion having a substantially circularconfiguration with flat opposite sides, and a barrel, said barrel havinga longitudinal open top chamber; a pair of needles fastened to saidbarrel and adapted for inserting through respective through holes in thebutton and piercing through the cloth, said needles each having arespective longitudinal guide groove; a push handle slidably located onan exterior of said barrel so as to be slidable along said chamber; and,a pair of projector rods respectively connected to said push handle, andmoved forward by said push handle in the longitudinal guide grooves ofsaid needles.
 2. The button attaching apparatus of claim 1 wherein thebarrel of said body further comprises a wire nail mounting slot adaptedfor receiving a wire nail having two legs respectively engaging thelongitudinal guide grooves of said needles.
 3. The button attachingapparatus of claim 1 further comprising a pair of springs located in thebody, a spring acting on each projector rod so as to impart a force onthe associated projector rod.
 4. The button attaching apparatus of claim1 wherein the longitudinal open-top chamber extends in a directiongenerally tangential to the circular handhold portion.
 5. The buttonattaching apparatus of claim 3 wherein each spring comprises acompression spring.